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Feature Articles - Munich

Back To Bavaria

Apart from Eisner's handing the Allies state secrets, Bavaria had been very much
on the sidelines of national affairs, which suited many, including the local SPD
men, who were now in control of the state after a resounding victory in the
Bavarian Landtag elections on 12 January.

The SPD returned 1,124,000 votes
as opposed to Eisner and his USDP clique's 86,000.
Another party that did well was the centralist Bayerische Volkspartei (BVP) -
they had run a campaign tapping into Catholic fears of Eisner as a Soviet
stooge.

His position now untenable, Eisner clung on to power for a few more weeks until
it became apparent, even to an idealist like him, that there was no choice left
but to resign. The day he chose to deliver his resignation, 21 February,
also happened to be the last of his life.

Count Anton Arco auf Valley, the man who gunned Eisner down, had been a student
at the University at Munich and was linked to a shadowy organisation called the
Thule Society. This far-right group was a collective of influential
persons obsessed with the völkish movement, German mythology and, most
importantly, racial purity in society.

The Thule Society's sister
organisations was the Schutz und Trutz Bund (League for Protection and
Resistance). The symbol they chose to reflect their Aryan credentials was
the Hakenkreuz - the Swastika (a symbol that had also been adopted by a number
of Freikorps units). Unsurprisingly, they loathed Eisner, and many Thule
Society members openly called for his assassination.

Arco's application had been rejected because his mother was of Jewish descent.
Seething with shame and rage he decided to perform a task to prove his mettle to
the Thule Society. And so Eisner's death was not brought about by a well
planned conspiracy, but from the desperation of a young man indoctrinated by the
anti-Semitism and class hatred.

As a postscript, Arco was convicted of murder, but released in 1924 on the
grounds of 'ill health'. He was to die ignominiously just after the Second
World War when an American jeep ran him over in an auto-accident.

Helter Skelter

With hindsight it is clear that Eisner's death was the result of Arco's actions
alone; at the time, however, most in the working classes believed the
assassination was a right wing conspiracy. They also believed that it was
an assassination implemented with a nod and a wink from the SPD (had not events
in Berlin proven where their real loyalties lay?).

One young man, an apprentice
butcher named Alois Linder, was quick to come to this conclusion and decided to
take immediate revenge against the SPD.

Within an hour of assassination, the Landtag sat in stunned silence listening to
Eisner's nemesis Erhard Auer delivering a eulogy for the dead Prime Minister.
He had just finished when the unnoticed Linder walked calmly into the assembly,
down one of the aisles and up to a banister. He then drew a Browning
rifle, steadied himself on the railing and blasted Auer from his chair.

Auer, although not dead, was seriously wounded. In the meantime, Linder
calmly strolled back up the aisle, took a few pot shots at the BVP benches and
then approached the exit. As he did so a brave officer, Major von Jahreiss
attempted to halt him. Linder killed him with a single shot and walked out
to be lost in the swirling crowds.

Unlike Arco, Linder was not acting alone. A second gunman opened fire from
the visitor's galleries, aiming again at the BVP - this time the party's
leader took a fatal bullet to the head. Linder fled to Austria, was
extradited and served 14 years for murder. Auer was taken to hospital and
was operated on by the same surgeon who had moments before saved Arco.
Later on Auer sent Arco a bunch of red roses. So much for eulogies.

Saint Eisner

Church bells across the city now tolled for the dead Prime Minister (the bell
ringers in some cases being forced to perform their task under the wrathful eyes
of the 'Security' forces).

The assassination spot was quickly covered in
floral tributes and red flags. Framed portraits of Eisner were set up in
the streets and those who passed were forced to remove their hats by security
patrols.

Members of the Thule society managed to desecrate the 'shrine' by soaking sacks
of flour with the scent of bitches on heat, which they then dumped over the
site: street dogs soon gathered and fouled the area.

Eisner's funeral took place on 26 February and a day of mourning was declared
throughout Bavaria. Thousands upon thousands of workers, peasants, the
intelligencia and the curious attended the funeral. Civic leaders and
members from the Landtag were also present.

In the crowds a number of
protest banners were held aloft, many carried the words: "Vengeance for Eisner!"
Eulogies were delivered, including one from Gustav Landauer who compared the
dead Prime Minister to Goethe, Jan Hus, a number of Old Testament prophets and,
for good measure, Jesus.

In the fall-out of Eisner's funeral, a new government was hobbled together and
called the Zentralrat (Central Council), while the Landtag was temporarily
dissolved. The SPD demanded, as the winner of the largest vote in the
elections, to take the dominant role.

As Auer was still convalescing, the
man at the helm of the SPD, and now the Zentralrat, was now Johannes Hoffmann.

SPD Ousted

Hoffmann came under immediate pressure from all sides. He needed the
assistance of the national government in order to gain economic support - Eisner's
'print more money' policies without national government support had shown how
damaging the pursuit of an isolationist line could be economically.

Unfortunately for Hoffmann, a draft constitution for the Weimar Republic had
just been announced and under its framework Bavaria was to lose its reserve
rights. BVP members were so angered that many in the party openly called
for Bavarian succession. Local SPD big-wigs were also upset.

On 22 March news arrived that Budapest had been taken over by Communist forces
and had established a soviet. The news worried Hoffmann, who had seen that
Communist forces were gaining strength in Munich and they were led by a powerful
new triumvirate known as the "Russians" (this was because of their family
connections to Russia), Towia Axelrod, Max Levien and Eugen Leviné.

Hoffmann decided to curtail their increasing power and announced the Landtag
would reconvene on 8 April, earlier than had been agreed. Knowing the
anger this would create within radical circles, Hoffmann went to Berlin to
garner support from the national government, although his refusal to give up
Bavaria's reserved rights led to his being cold-shouldered.

On 5 April Munich's politicians, with Hoffmann in Berlin, met to thrash out the
next moves of the revolution. At the meeting Leviné demanded the creation
of a soviet. Rather than saying yes or no, and without their leader, the
SPD delegates adjourned the meeting to make a decision 48 hours later.

The radicals made the decision for them: their supporters came out in droves
yelling the classic cry "All power to the Soviets!"
On 6 April the new Soviet Republic of Bavaria was proclaimed. The SPD
leaders, realising that staying in Munich was becoming too dangerous, left for
Nuremburg, and from there to Bamberg where a small Freikorps detachment
protected them.

Coffee House Republic

The far left of the Zentralrat met to form a new cabinet for the new country.
The Independent Socialists - the main leaders being
Ernst Toller and Erich Mühsam
and Gustav Landauer - took over the reins of power (their stock was at an all
time high due to their close association with Eisner).

The new regime was instantly criticised by the Communists for pandering to the
old regime and for failing to set up a true soviet. It did not bode well
for the coffee house intellectuals.

If Eisner seemed eccentric then these men veered towards being mentally
unhinged. Indeed, the new Foreign Minister, Dr Lipp (whom Toller had
brought along to the meeting and seconded) was straight from an asylum!

With a
vast unkempt beard Lipp would decorate his offices with bundles of red
carnations. He also had a penchant for firing off bizarre telegrams to
important people. To Lenin he complained that Hoffmann had run off with
the keys to the ministerial toilet. He also added details about Noske
having the hands of a gorilla, which dripped blood.

Lenin did not reply,
so Lipp had the same telegram sent off to his 'good friend' the Pope.

Lipp then announced to his astounded colleagues: "I have declared war on
Württemberg and Switzerland, because these dogs have not at once loaned me sixty
locomotives. I am certain that we will be victorious. Furthermore, I
will ask the Pope, with whom I am well acquainted, to grant his blessing for
this victory."

Even for the coffee house radicals was too much; Lipp was soon sent back to the
asylum, but the bizarre decrees kept on coming. Banks and large centres of
industry were nationalised. The Commissar for Finance was also of the
opinion that money should be free.

The Commissar of Public Instruction
declared that the University of Munich was now open to anyone wishing to enrol
and all courses were to be free. The history department was suppressed as
the subject was 'the enemy of civilisation'.

Enter The Communists

On 12 April the Republican Guards, a right wing militia in the pay of Hoffmann,
mutinied against Toller's rule. They seized the Landtag, other major
government buildings and arrested Erich Mühsam and Dr Lipp. Toller was
quick to react - he rallied his Red Guard militia. With numerical
superiority and Toller personally leading them into battle, they swiftly
defeated their opponents.

Unfortunately for Toller the workers and Red Guards decided his and his
colleagues services were no longer required. After being arrested, freed,
re-arrested and freed again, the Communists eventually decided to give Toller a
say in the of organising Munich's defences.

The Communists secured power, with the "Russians", Towia Axelrod, Max Levien and
Eugen Leviné, at the helm. It is worth noting that all three were of Jewish
backgrounds, something that the far right pounced on and never tired of
emphasising.

Of the three, Levien was probably the most radical and the
most dominant. He had become a Spartacist during the war and, after being
conscripted, lectured soldiers on the need for an Allied victory. "It is
necessary," he said, "that Germany be humiliated, that the colonial troops of
France and England march through the Brandenburg Gate."

Red Army Rises

In charge of the Communists' defence force was Rudolf Egelhofer, a 26-year-old
ex-sailor who had taken part in the Kiel Mutiny.

Egelhofer immediately set
about bolstering the numbers by offering free food and, on the face of
it, good money: privates were paid 25 marks a day and NCOs 130 marks and
officers 500 marks. Prostitutes, it is said, were also 'supplied'.

To pay for this new army, the Communists simply printed off more notes.
Indeed, the finance minister was forced to keep the presses running day and
night just to keep up with the rate of inflation.

Weaponry was a problem
as the considerable arsenals that had been stockpiled in Munich were now bare. Egelhofer threatened to have anyone holding on to weaponry shot unless they
handed their firearms over. Despite the threats there was still a
shortage: 12,000 rifles were distributed to an army that now numbered 20,000
men.

The clampdown on 'reactionaries' began almost immediately. One person the
Communists deemed worthy of arrest was
Adolf Hitler, now a well known
nationalist who had just returned from a stint as a prison guard of a Russian P.O.W camp at Traunstien.

On 27 April, according to Hitler's memoirs,
three men arrived at his barracks to arrest him. "Faced with my levelled
carbine," said Hitler, "the three scoundrels lacked the necessary courage and
marched off as they had come."

Bavaria's Loss Is Germany's
Gain

Back in Bamberg, Hoffman had been busy. Because of Eisner's pacifist
policies, Bavaria lacked the Freikorps units needed to smash the Communists.

Outside of the state, however, the number of Freikorps had mushroomed in numbers
- over 400,000 men were estimated to have joined, or were affiliated with, the
Freikorps by spring 1919. Hoffman asked the national government for help
in ridding Bavaria of the Communists.

In return for their support, Hoffman
was told - again - that Bavaria would have to relinquish the reserved rights.

Unwilling, or unable, to accept Ebert's terms, Hoffman decided to raise his own
counter-revolutionary army. Hastily arranged and poorly supplied,
Hoffman's small force reached Dachau, about 25 miles north of Munich on 20
April. This force clashed with a Red Army detachment of around 7,000 men led
by Toller.

After a brief skirmish, the outnumbered SPD forces cracked and
fled. The Red Army netted five enemy officers and 36 troops. Egelhofer ordered Toller to shoot them, although Toller refused.

With his forces smashed, Hoffman travelled to Weimar to beg for help.
Noske laid down the ground rules for a third and final time - Bavaria was to
drop its reserved rights. The operation to retake Munich was to be under
the sole control of General von Oven - and he took his orders directly from
Noske. Von Oven was to return control of Munich to Hoffman once the Red
opposition had been crushed.

The Communists were well aware that Hoffman would scurry off to the national
government looking for help. They were also well aware of the kind of
threat the Freikorps posed. The Red Army was put on high alert and
Munich's defences strengthened.

Supplies, however, were becoming a serious problem as the peasantry withheld
produce from the farms. It was not long into the Communist's reign that
Red Army soldiers were sent to scour the city for supplies. The shortage
of milk was a serious problem: only children suffering from malnutrition (with a
doctor's certificate to confirm this) were allowed to draw on the city's milk
ration.

Leviné was undisturbed by the thought of starving babies.
"What does it matter," he said, "if for a few weeks less milk reaches Munich?
Most of it goes to the children of the bourgeoisie anyway. We are not
interested in keeping them alive. No harm if they die - they'd only grow
into enemies of the proletariat."